Champions of Bhumant

A day or two out from Azy Cay, DJ was swimming with his shark friend. (Am I the only one puzzled by that relationship?) Anyway, they disappeared under the water for awhile. Then DJ burst up onto the skiff sounding the alarm. We manned the cannons & ballista, but to no avail. Strange octopus creatures swarmed up over the sides of the ship, out of range of both. We tried to cut them down, but they attacked so quickly and repeatedly. Many men were knocked overboard in the fight. Only a few were downed on the ship itself, but by the time we killed off the invaders all those who had fallen overboard were truly lost. Cara & I were able to patch upmost of those injured who remained on the ship.

DJ & the other aquatic members of the crew were able to salvage treasure, but it cost us dearly. About a third of the crew in total, mostly the newer men, were buried at sea.

We will need to hire more men at one of the upcoming ports and this time they will be armed with spears and bows so we can keep other threats from reaching the deck.

crap, that's a long way to sail!!

So we arrived at the isle of elementalists and there really weren’t any of note. I was disappointed, but, well, not surprised…. We were tasked with resetting the 4 elements and agreed to do so with some cash for those not normally inclined. Unfortunately this would take months if not years to accomplish, but meh, whatever…. We sailed on to make our fortunes and oppose the sea hags…..

Henry's childhood

When Henry was just a young boy, still with his father and family, it was tradition each summer from the first year he had learned to sail that he would travel with the rest of the family to the cold sea to help with harvesting the whales. At the age of 12 was the first year that Henry was invited to join the hunting team, even as a young boy though, Henry was a very strong boy, and after the first harpooner was pulled from the dinghy by the whale they were hunting, Henry stepped up to take the next throw. The harpoon hit hard, and after a short struggle the whale was finished. After his first kill Henry was regularly invited to be a harpooner on the hunts, learning to hone his skill with a harpoon, and getting better about where best to target the large creatures to take them down.

My father had never paid much attention to me before, so I was surprised when my father woke me early one morning and told me to get dressed and meet him outside. He had piled a couple of bales of hay up with a rather crude target tacked to the front.

He said that my agile hands had to be useful for something more than calligraphy and origami. He handed me a small bow and said I should give it a try. He pulled out a larger version, drew it and shot well within the target.

He walked me through what to do. I drew back the bow as far as I could and the arrow fell to my feet. I tried again and the arrow made it halfway to the target. I kept trying with random results and watched my father grow frustrated. Not sure how the sun had gotten that high, I was determined to get this right. I pulled the bow WAAAAAYY back and launched the arrow clear past the hay bales, much to the surprise of a nearby stable hand who nearly got skewered. I didn’t even have the courage to look up at my father to see his reaction. Before I could think about it too much I shut out the world, grabbed the last arrow in my quiver and shot. It wasn’t quite a bullseye, but my arrow landed closer to it than my father’s had!

He stared in silence for a moment. Was that good? Was he still upset about the stable hand? Oh crap, had I just shown him up with a better shot?

He patted me on the back so hard I pitched forward. “Now that’s more like it. Gather them up and we’ll go again.”

I was a young tadpole......

I was once a part of the great Naval alliance that sailed against the Sea Hags. I, along with many of my kin fought to defeat the Evil that has invaded our realm from the outside. When my fellows were destroyed and my ship rent from under me then did I know despair. I awoke to the sounds of a pipe organ playing. It’s haunting melody infused me and readied my frail corporeal self to return to the fight and attempt to save our plane of existence. I knew I was upholding my admiral’s quest to find a means to destroy the creatures that have almost destroyed our race. Unfortunately for the Sea hags, they failed to completely annihilate our race, thus leaving ME alive. I will never cease in my quest to destroy them and return our realm to equilibrium. To this end I have joined with the disparate beings that have, so far, proven themselves thorns in the side of the oppressive Sea Hags. As an aside, my earlier saving from the battle against the Hags has resulted in my becoming competent in the playing of the pipe organ/piano………..

Captain Teddy

In remembrance to Captain Theodore Cambell Liverpool III;
Captain Teddy was the finest captain that I knew when I was growing up, Of course he was the first captain I ever knew, as rumor had it I was hatched out on the bridge of his ship the Mighty Nellie, at the base of the helm.. I stayed at the helm or by the helm for many days an nights, so many I forgot how many they were. Captain Teddy made sure I was trained and cared for, I was treated like his own linage, we were scrounging in the Flotsam Sea when something big slammed into the pieces of ships we were checking for stuff on, half the crew were smashed and gone in that second, then the second hit came a moment later, I ended up in the water and seaweed. I latched onto the only thing I could the helm wheel and the small pack of stuff by it that had everything that the crew had allowed me to have. I cried as the shinies, that I had been admiring when the first hit happened, rolled of my small kit and went into the sea, I tried and tried to catch some of them but they were like chasing a sardine that had a shark after it. I floated many days before I landed on a beach, I am sure it was north side of one of the Grey Isles. I was weak and starving, I passed out, after I woke I searched for food. found some meger foods and finally caught the eye of a passing ship that took me on, I worked that ship the best I could until they decided they didn’t need my company. and off I was again with my meger kit.
Never knew if Captain Teddy survived the crushing of the ship or not..

We continued west toward Bluth’s Crown where DJ hopes to find knowledge or equipment to help with his magic. From there we’ll go north to Azy Cay where we hope to sell the skiff & cargo and enjoy some shore leave.

Along the way we saw a Galleon. This time DJ wanted to get ready for a fight before even getting close. I just don’t get that guy. Maybe it’s a Kraken thing? As they came closer they were flying colors of the British East India Company and didn’t appear predatory. Behind them on the horizon was a giant Man-O-War. We traded with the Galleon getting food and goods for the iron that was on our new ship. The Man-O-War had the Admiral. I forget his exact name. He pushed on board with his head up his ass and was extremely confrontational, especially when he saw Henry’s brand. Apparently he has a real thing against pirates. He examined our ship and each of us using some magic sword that declared us free of murder and piracy. Not sure how the pirate crew scraped through that one, but maybe I’m not the only one easily convinced. Anyway they moved on and we approached Bluth’s Crown.

We were attacked by 2 massive swarms of birds. We tried shooting at them with little result and have men down. I thought we did some damage, but one swarm just split into 2 smaller swarms.

Birds are bad mmmkay?

The new crew seems to be working out well. I haven’t had to make examples of anyone yet. Baxter is showing an interest in actually running the boat! We were approached by a man of War, as there are only 2 on the ocean that I know of I figured it had to be Admiral Duckworth as I didn’t see any Kraken on board. The Admiral was a bit brusque, but allowed us to continue on our way unmolested (he did give Henry a thorough once over). As we proceeded onwards we were set upon by a swarm of Razorwings. I dispersed some of them, and some cannon shot took down others; however, there appear to be a LOT more. Scotty fell protecting me, but I did heal him up. Hopefully we will survive…….

and living Session 7

After acquiring the larger ship and sailing further west heading to meet some more mages..
We encountered a couple large ships one of which was one of the Man-O-Wars that roam the seas. this one was the one that Admiral Duckworth operates on. As he is a known privateer that doesn’t let pirates go free I was concerned when he inspected our ship, cargo, and men. He placed his sword against each in the expectation of seeing if the person had pirating at heart, I figure if a man was truly a pirate and he did that the person would likely try to attack or run sealing their fates.
After the inspection and some minor trading we were given a letter saying we (ship, crew, & cargo) had been inspected and could go to port.
We started on toward Bluth’s Crown less than a day out we encountered a couple swarms of ugly little birds.
Opps had to duck, guess I better get back to killing the buggers.

"We're not pirates. But this was a pirate ship."

We’ve continued sailing for days it seems, with little interest happening after taking this Brig. The new crew seem nice enough for pirates, they know how to work at least. Fish and provisions are getting old, I could go for some fresh steak.

We’ve come across a fleet of ships, with a man-o-war. That Admiral came aboard, Duckfeet? Duckface? Duckworth? Something like that. He was kind of an asshole, and didn’t seem to like me much, without any good reason. He tapped me with his sword too, not a very friendly guy. At least he didn’t try killing any of us.

We’ve continued on our course after facing the Admiral but now a couple of flocks of some sort of bird are heading our way. This doesn’t look good.

Session 6

While sailing away to the west in search of a bigger ship I ended up turning left instead of going straight taking us into dangerous waters. While down there we met an exploration ship that had a very decent captain and crew, we chatted a good bit and then sailed back north with them before we turned to the west again.
After sailing west awhile we spotted a fair sized ship bearing towards us,
We let them position to board us and we were able to fight off their boarders as Captian Baxter and DJ took out the captain of that ship and convinced the rest to give up and become part of our crew.
Even though I am not totally sure they are all loyal.
We have yet to inventory the new ship.

We squeezed back into our tiny skiff. If we’re going to save the world we need a bigger boat. We headed west toward the rest of civilization. After a storm, a wrong turn by Tosas took us south where we found a great ship. We let them get close enough to board and started talking. I used my new skill in speaking Kraken to ask DJ to initiate a surprise attack. The surprise was on me when he said no!

He had some hang-up that they weren’t trying to hurt us. I mean come on! We’re not getting far crammed into this tiny skiff. But we were outnumbered 3 to 1. Without surprise and magic this wasn’t even a fight. We sailed back north together, then parted ways to continue west. Eventually we came across another ship with black sails. We let them get close enough to board and when they attacked we crushed them. I was particularly proud of a couple ballista bolts landed directly in the captain’s jewels.

After we killed the captain and the boarding party I convinced the remaining crew to surrender and work for me. We transferred the magical masthead & sails to the brigantine, which is now named the Green Dolphin. We are towing the skiff which I have renamed the Crimson Enchantress in honor of my first love.

Not EVERYTHING needs killing!

We set out East in our over loaded skiff. We mostly managed to subsist on fishing and the fresh water i provided, though occasionally we had to dip into our provisions. The air responded to my call and we sped along a brisk clip. A storm set upon us and Tossas ended up sailing us due South, almost to an area of dead sea where even fish did not live. There we encountered a Frigate and determined to make it our own. As we approached they greeted us politely and exchanged information. They were explorers looking for uncharted lands. Baxter spoke to me in Kraken asking me to begin the assault. I refused (much to everyone’s surprise) as I am NOT a casual murderer. Though I have no compunction of ending a beings life, they typically must do something to deserve it. These people had done nothing wrong. Hopefully this lesson will sink into Baxter’s mind. Getting back on course we were, eventually, pursued and overtaken by a Brigantine. It closed with us expecting to capture and enslave or kill us and take our ship and goods as prize. Having proven themselves worthy of death our crew began to systematically slaughter the pirate crew. Baxter proved an excellent shot as he managed to hit a tiny target indeed, causing the pirate captain to speak in falsetto! Technically I am now captain of the Brigantine as I killed the pirate captain with some well aimed bolts (as well as several pirates), but I chose not to make an issue of it as I have no desire to be in charge (though that may change if I do not get a large cabin to myself!) Now to inventory the captured ship, indoctrinate the remaining pirate crew, and be on our way.

We need a bigger boat

After training with the mage woman we left her oddly placed home, the supposed captain deciding it was about time we found ourselves a bigger ship. We set off to the West, finding ourselves in a storm for some time during our trip before we somehow ended up far to the south. Coming across a Frigate we were decided upon taking it, until a conversation with the Captain of the ship changed the squid-man’s mind. It would have been an easy enough task to take it, but instead we followed it back north, then continued west.
After a day or two later, we came across yet another ship. This one displayed the black sails of a pirate ship, though larger than the frigate, the others decided it would be perfect for taking. So we took it, after a few seconds of fighting, and putting a few ballista bolts through the former pirate captains testicles, the ship and the remains of its crew were ours, as they lacked the capability to pilot such a ship without their captain at the helm.

And the second attempt to meet Tessa the red. Session 5

The journey into the teeth was very nerve wracking at first but it seemed to get easier as we went along, (might have been the numbers of wrecked ships that made it easier to see the hazards.
As we got in close to the fount holding the Island aloft a ship with a figurehead of a green dolphin seemed very unusual to me, as the figurehead was in fantastic shape but the ship was so rotted that it was falling apart as we watched.
DJ told me that it was magical after I pointed it out to him, so I maneuvered the ship beside it so we could retrieve the figurehead.
In short order the figurehead was on our ship bringing the Captain to renaming the ship The Green Dolphin.
I am much glad in this as the previous name seemed to bode ill for us.

After this Equias WC gave us a history of what she knew about this place, but they always had an emissary that met them, there was no such for us, so we made to move up the fount to talk to the arch-mage.
After a very harsh trip up to the top of the island we got told by a bird that they weren’t receiving visitors.
We rested awhile then took it on ourselves to move into the tower itself , there the bird was again taunting us, after we started to figure out the tests of this place we started our way through. at the water trail I along with the others failed and later woke up at the bottom on an island. the harrowing trip up the fount for naught.

After resting and recovering from our trails we started to scavenge around not finding much until DJ sensed magic from sails on a sunken ship, we went down to help him free the sails after he noticed a bunch of sharks in the area around it.
After we fought the sharks off, DJ killing most of the sharks and then healing those of us that were injured, we were able to get the sails back up to our ship.
After resting into the next day we decided to try the trip up again , I am worried as the first trip was almost the end of me but DJ says he learned some magic from a book that should help us get there, (maybe I should borrow that book from him later)
Well the trip up was still quite a chore but we did make it with a lot less trouble, we met the bird again in the tower and started our way through the tests, the water trip went a lot better this time we got to see the arch-mage and her wonderful collection of study materials. She was a lot nicer to DJ and the rest of us than I thought she might be.
After time spent studying in her home and resting we were sent back to our ship and the teeth seem to part for the ship with us on it to leave. We have decided to head west and attempt to acquire a larger ship.
We need to do this and find rum before the little crew we have decide food and water is not enough to stay happy
Hoping for happy hunting….

We reached The Teeth, home to the Arch Mage Tessa the Red. The whole crew worked together to get us through The Gullet. We found a crashed ship with a magical masthead that we were able to take as our own. DJ says it will make the ship more maneuverable. I have renamed the ship “The Green Dolphin” in its honour.

AT the end of The Gullet, we found a geyser of water shooting 200 feet in the air with the mage tower on top. There was no way to communicate with Tessa to request entrance, so DJ, Tosas, Equias & I decided to fight our way there. The two crabs shared a rope as did DJ & I. We shot through the geyser and needed to grab on to the floating island. DJ slipped, but I was able to save him. Then the 4 of us had to climb the face of a sheer cliff. Luckily I had thought to arm everyone with grappling hooks. Equias & I took the lead climbing and pulled our partners up after us, but not without some bumps and bruises from being hauled up.

AT the top of the cliff we were greeted by a giant colorful bird who told us that Tessa was not seeing visitors. We tried to pursued it otherwise, but it was insistent. It flew into the tower & we followed it. It told us that we needed to complete a test to meet Tessa & we had already done part of it by getting this far.

The next test was to find a key to the next room. After much searching, DJ was able to find the right part of the map and pressed it to open the door. Then came the fire room. DJ navigated us through it by stepping on the tiles with pictures of fire creatures. The next room was filled with water. We struggled to swim through, but alas we couldn’t do it. We passed out and woke up on another island. DJ had a book next to him.

Near the island, DJ saw the wreckage of a Kraken ship and dove down to it. He was quickly circled by sharks, but for some reason didn’t come back up. I sent Scotty, Mongrel & Tosas down to help. They killed off the sharks and came back with sails that DJ said were magical to help with speed.

We started to leave The Teeth and DJ realized that the book he had gotten contained a spell to help us all be protected from different environments, included breathing underwater. We decided to try for the magetower again and brought Henry since he excels at climbing.

This time we made it through all the tests and met Tessa herself. She was a beautiful redhead. After she talked magic with DJ for a while she showed us all to her library which we could use to prepare for some of the challenges we would face on our upcoming quest.

DJ tried to get to know Tessa better personally, but Kraken must have very different ideas of romance. Tessa seemed disgusted by his advances and I tried to smooth things over. She seemed grateful for this and showed me a night of true magic. Now I truly feel ready to save the world!

quest for the Archmage

I am fraught with worry that i am unequal to the task laid out before me by prophesy. Though I bent the crew to my will and we proceeded to The Teeth, I sense that this Captain may not be the simple puppet I had hoped he would be. Both good and bad may come of this. I must tread carefully allowing him to think he retains control. Our skiff approached a plume of water that we were required to climb. It is here that I began to doubt my suitability to this task. My power is great and growing, but the physical form containing it is weak and fragile. We barely managed to struggle to the top, exhausting all our resources to do so. At the top we rested briefly. Proceeding on wards we entered a room of fire. This puzzle yielded readily to my intellect (at least I have THAT still going for me). Afterwards we were forced to swim upstream. Even my racial ability proved insufficient to combat the fatigue and dragging the land dwellers with us. We passed out and awoke on a small island. Next to me was a book that taught me the Environmental protection spell. I smiled to myself realizing that even if the Archmage could not directly help me she still wished us well. We traveled a bit and recovered 2 artifacts that would aid us in our task. A figurehead of a Dolphin that gave our skiff a name of “Green Dolphin” and some sails that would speed us on our way (I admit I enjoyed the visceral pleasure of slaughtering the sharks that stood in our way). Our spirits and resources bolstered we managed to ascend and meet with the Archmage. She was beautiful as expected. (If a bit old for my tastes). We gained some valuable information, a chance to train our skills and recuperate. Next we will attempt to take a better ship in which to try and save the world…….

Tosas finds a mate?

Having just reached the point where I can now create and/or purify water I was feeling fairly relaxed about our chances. Some God Damned Dinosaur decided to try and eat us! I objected (though not strenuosly as it did not appear truly dangerous). Our small party quickly killed the beast and we were unable to obtain any useful materials from the beast. We attempted to repair the Skiff, but despite Tosas and I’s best efforts would have failed except for the lady looking down upon us! a Female Skurrilion was seen along the shore. She turned out (not surprisingly) to be a carpenter able to repair our skiff! Once more the prophecy proving itself! There was some argument about circling the savage lands looking for Tressa the Red (the last archmage) I, of course, won out on the discourse. We did meet a reasonable man, a privateer of some sort, who sold us some powder to fire our cannons (at cost!). Currently we are approaching the Gullet and about to attempt to sail through and meet up with the archmage. More later…..

Session 4

After waking to the sound of a roaring beast we encounter a big creature, we were able to stop its charge and kill it in short order, finding that it wasn’t worth anything for food we ended up dumping what we could of it in the pool of congealing blood. we finished searching the area around the temple and then left to go repair the skiff.
Once there DJ and I tried and tried to fix the skiff but only managed to annoy it and us (if a skiff could be annoyed).
Captain Baxter spotted someone bobbing in the waves off the coast so DJ went out and met them and brought them into shore.
She turned out to be a ship’s carpenter and a female Scurillian, named Equias I guess that is a double plus, she seems to be very competent in repairs of vessels.
She fixed the skiff up in short order.
We named the ship and headed out to our fate after a very heated discussion.
Finally heading to our doom, erm I mean The Teeth to attempt to talk to the ArchMage in hopes of finding a way to safe the world as we know it.. More than likely to be killed for our efforts. after 15 days travel on the seas we came to The Teeth’s opening, may the powers that be help guide my hands as we sail in. We drank the last of the rum as we came in sight so I only hope we get more before we die.
We did trade with Capt. Bartholomew Davis a privateer after the first day of sail trading some fresh water and some amount of coin for enough gunpowder to fire the cannons 40 times.
Mayhap I will be able to continue this log after tomorrow….

WTF was in that weed????

We awoke to the welcome sight of a small skiff beached to the South of us. It had a hole in it and lacked a sail but was otherwise seaworthy. The “Captain” under my recommendation sent a group to retrieve the ship’s carpenter from the other refugee group. I took the harpooner, my bodyguard, and 5 others to “retrieve” the carpenter, some sail cloth and some wood to repair the skiff’s hull. As we approached the encampment we saw that our old ship, The Damned, was on fire down to the waterline. The other group had been taken by something, we saw drag marks. We did manage to retrieve some sail cloth and some timber to repair the skiff and started back. On the way Henry the jackass harpooner found some vegetation he claimed was good for eating. To my shame I believed him and partook. It tapped into my warrior side forcing out the intellect and making me more of an enraged beast. (Note to self, this “weed” may be useful in the future….) we found our other group and trailed them to a Temple of Red Men. There my berserk fury led me to actually physically assault the enemy! We cut through most of the enemy whilst the Cptn and our crab broke free. I was clubbed unconscious which would NOT have happened if I was functioning with a full deck (F you Henry!!) While I lay reeling I heard The maiden’s crying and felt myself reborn. No addiction, full of spell casting vigor. The enemy shaman summoned a mighty Monkey Spirit but was unable to maintain the spirit once his spine was severed. Now we are down to 10 or so men. We have plenty of food, water, and Rum. I’m taking a small holiday…….

Stardate 2.1

We awoke the second day of my command to discover a beached skiff with a small hole in the hull and no sails, but otherwise in good shape. Remembering that the ship’s carpenter and the wood & sails needed to restore the skiff were only a few hours walk back to the wreck, I put DJ in charge of a small team to retrieve the resources. He took Henry the harpooner, his “bodyguard” & 5 other men. Tosas & I remained with the skiff and the balance of the crew resting for the tasks before us and hoping to gather some more fish to supplement the rations.

I heard some movement and motioned for the crew to be ready to fight. Next thing I knew I woke up in shackles. WTF!!! How could this happen again?? You’ve got to be kidding me.

I was chained to some kind of stone pillar in a line that included all the men from the skiff and those we had left with the wreckage. We seemed to be between a stone temple and a massive bubbling pool of blood. Our captors were large red men covered in hair bearing clubs and the one in charge was chanting and periodically threw one of the bound men into the pool. They would scream and be engulfed completely. The line of men was disappearing way too fast.

None of us seemed to have any luck freeing ourselves and the situation was bleak. Then, from out of the forest DJ charged in bone sword held high. His whole team followed and engaged the enemy. I could do nothing but watch. He beheaded one of the creatures and sent an icicle into the leader, clearly doing a serious injury. But he was hit from behind by one of the enemy as he ran past. The leader threw another man into the pool which bubbled more quickly. Tosas managed to break free and joined the fight. From the pool emerged a giant monkey creature. Tosas killed the leader and the creature dissipated, thank the gods.

I finally got free in time to help clean up the few remaining enemy. We found our gear along with some huts, but most of the crew was gone. We are down to 10 men. On the bright side, the food will stretch further and we now have shelter and fresh water. We have some time to figure out what we do from here, but will we survive the island? I must put on a brave face for my crew. They look up to me and need my strong leadership more than ever now.

Third Session

We woke up after a nights rest and found that there was a skiff visible from where we camped that we didn’t see during the evening hours as the lighting was too bad.
We can tell the skiff is repairable, but the ship carpenter is one of the people that stayed at the ship wreck.
So the Captain sends a small group back for materials and to convince the carpenter to come help fix the skiff.
Soon after they left some strange power affected those of us in the large group and the next I know I am at some sort of temple beside a blood filled pool that seems to be huge, I notice that the group we left at the wreck site and all of those that stayed with the Captain at the skiff including me are bound to pillars beside the pool of blood.
There are several Ugaks with clubs around us and one that has a spear and garbed differently from the rest that is chanting and shoving our men one after the other into the blood pool.
I know that I will only have seconds to fight before I might join the men in the pool, but the Captain is the last in the line of pillars and I am the only one in front of him that I can think of that stands a chance merger as it is of stopping all of us from joining the ones in the blood pool. So I start worrying the bounds that bind me.
Before I break free there is a disturbance from the other side of the pool. There is only five of us left on the pillars at that point.
The away team have found us. DJ charges in with the rest streaming after him he almost seems to be drooling as he charges forward sword in hand hollering at the Ugak Shaman/mage to stop, the Ugak says a word of power and shoves the next in the line into the pool.
Then DJ shoots the shaman with a icicle wounding him severely, at this the groups of ugaks that were around us start charging the group coming in except for three that try to protect the shaman, DJ cuts his way through the ones that got between him and the shaman and charges to the face of the shaman, as he did this I saw blood spray from his back as the club from one of those he charged past slammed him hard.
I break free of my bonds and charge to the other side of the shaman to try to assist DJ in doing so I stun the two Ugaks that are guarding the shaman while dj and the shaman wield magic at each other. Then I see DJ knocked out by a stroke of the guard on the other side of the shaman from me. I mortally wound the shaman and the guard on the side closest to me. About that time a huge monkey that had risen from the blood pool disappears , I guess that it was controlled by the shaman. at this point DJ rejoins the battle and between the Captain, DJ, Henry the few crew that are still alive and I are able to finish of the remaining Ugaks.
We do a quick search and find our gear and more….

After killing the Captain on the ship that held me prisoner, I became the new captain. I initially offered the position of first mate to the Kraken mage DJ who was so vital to our revolution. Tosas asked to be considered for the position and seemed very qualified, mentioning things about being a quartermaster and creating article for ruling the crew. SInce DJ didn’t seem to care either way, I gave the position to Tosas. Henry the harpooner had no desire to be an officer.

The first order of business was to regain control of the ship. It was being driven faster than I thought the ship could go by some mysterious force. The rudder had broken off in the fight, so we couldn’t turn. We tried dragging some old sails in the water behind the ship to slow us down with little effect. Soon a rocky shore came into view. All we could do was brace for impact as the ship broke upon the rocks.

Most of the crew died in the crash. I gathered the survivors and had them scavenge the wreck for food, water, fishing gear & other essentials. We found ourselves on an island made of volcanic rock. There was nothing on the shore but rock, not even birds or sealife. There were several volcanoes and a dense forest in the distance.

We obviously couldn’t survive long in the open with no food, drinkable water or shelter. I discussed with my officers whether we were better off heading directly for the forest or walking along the shoreline and we agreed to stick to the shore.

Some of the survivors who had been prisoners and had no experience at sea wanted to wait for rescue by the wreckage. They seemed to feel strongly and I didn’t need to be burdened with men who couldn’t care for themselves, so I offered to let any who wanted stay and have a share of the provisions & gear. More chose to stay than I expected and they wanted more than their share of the supplies. After DJ shot the most vocal opposition with a bolt of power, a few more came to join my group. We took our rightful share of supplies and walked along the shore until shortly before dusk.

We made camp and tried to get what fish we could to supplement the hard tack. During the night, we heard scratching noises coming closer. We lit two torches and passed out the few weapons we had. DJ and I stayed on the high ground on a large rock, Tosas & Henry moved forward with the torchbearers, the remaining armed sailors right behind.

There was a huge lizard with a yellow back. It was easy enough to kill, but when it dropped two more followed. One of these killed a sailor. We quickly dropped them as well. Looks like we’ll have plenty of lizard to eat for a few days.

My will is law.

Our ship was driven before a mystic wind and ended up crashing upon the Savage shores. some 25% of the crew survived including the three that have managed to make themselves noticed to me. 1) Baxter Seabrook: I will use him as a pawn in my quest to destroy the Sea Hags. My initial thought that he is the prophesied one may have been in error, nonetheless he is a stalwart youth…. 2) Tosas: a Scurillion, which alone makes him useful in a fight. 3) Henry the harpooner who styles himself “The Handsome”. Perhaps he is, I have no concept of male human beauty being partial to the female of the species myself.

the survivors of the beaching "voted’ (a concept I do not understand, those with the power rule, those without follow or die. It was decided that our group would proceed inland whilst the other group stayed by the beach. One of the beach group attempted to take more than what I considered fair and I eliminated the problem and asked if there were any other "leaders’ who wished to challenge our “captain’s” orders. As I suspected, there were none. We proceeded towards the trees and camped for the night. Some lizard like creatures tried to make dinner of us and were turned into a meal for us. More to come…

Second session

Trying every trick I could we still ran aground on the edge of the Savage lands Lots of the people on board of the Ship “The dammed” were killed from the impact or died from their wounds, we pulled what we could from the wreckage and the officers decided to head toward the treeline following along the edge of the water so we could fish and look for fresh water there was a group that didn’t want to leave the wreckage so we voted and those that wanted to stay stayed with their share of what we had already found while the larger group of us headed on the course decided after there was words and some violence killing the main opposing person by the Kraken mage that calls himself DJ.
After a few hours travel we decided to make came and try to find food to extend our rations out.
Shortly after dark we could hear scraping noises coming over the rocks towards us, we prepared the best we could and some of us with torch bearers went forward towards the noise,
There in the dim light we met some large yellow back lizards, I was able to kill one of them and in short order we had killed the other two. We did however lose one sailor in the fight. we also gained a couple extra days food for all of us.
I am setting a watch up so we have warning if others of these savage lands decide to come and test our strength. I have a foreboding that this land is trying to kill us of the Sea Hag’s will.

The Origin and first session

Tosas had a merger beginning I found my self on the beach of an Island close to Braven. from there I found work on a few different ships becoming familiar with navigation and the workings of ships in general, had a good job as 2nd navigator on the ship called The Tusk, we had put into a port at Brigany Bay. There I found a good bit of luck being invited to attend a large party. The party was put on by the ships officers. I had a good time drinking and watching the idiots try to make friends while I chewed up food from the snack table, I guess I eat or drank more than I should have as the next I knew I was at sea attached to an oar, going south east from Brigandy Bay and we were several days out already and going faster than this ship should. A crazy mage Kraken kept mouthing off to the guard apparently over us getting himself beat on by him, somehow he managed to get free of his chains and the human called Baxter Seabrook Together we were able to take the ship with Baxter killing the previous captain becoming the new Captain, soon after the ship was taken the rudder broke. wind driving us rapidly towards the savage lands and possibly the rocks.

a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD??????

Our race is in decline. It is a sad state of affairs when the once mighty Kraken are reduced to eaking out a living as ships mages. Great Tar Tarris lies slumbering in ruins beneath the waves. My lord Caspian, Captain of the last remaining Great Ship has commanded that all Kraken search out for hints of THEPROPHECY as a way to destroy the Sea Hags and restore our honor. I believe I have found a lead on a part of THEPROPHECY, that portion which states an outsider will destroy the Sea Hags. I followed this child (I later learned his name to be “Baxter”) and watched as he foolishly was captured as he lay in a drunken stupor. My own “capture” was easily arranged by pretending to rob the people responsible for Baxter’s imprisonment. The men beat me unconscious (they will be repaid ten-fold!) and I awoke chained next to Baxter (obvious work of THEPROPHECY). After allowing my overconfidence to earn me another 2 whacks on the head I enlisted Baxter’s help in freeing one tentacle from my shackles (the boy DOES show signs of bravery). With a free tentacle I was easily able to slip my other tentacle out of bondage. I admit a bit of surprise as the blast of water I sent at the overseer who whacked me on the head turned to ice and impaled his brain, but he DID deserve it! I freed Baxter and he took up cutlass to defend me. Offering the slaves a chance at freedom we soon had a few hardy souls including, of all things, a Scurillian! I blew a hole in the wall that the drummer indicated hid some weapons and some of the slaves armed themselves. We swarmed up the ladder and took down the enemy crew members with Baxter landing the killing blow on the Captain. Now he is Captain, surely another step on THEPROPHECY, as is the unnatural wind blowing us somewhere………

I woke up with a splitting headache chained to a huge oar. There were several rows of men ahead of me and a strange creature beside me similarly chained. Was this a real live Kraken? There was a chained man on a drum ahead of me and a man behind me bellowed for them to row. When I looked behind me I saw row after row of the same. The bellowing man was large with slanted eyes and a club he used to enforce compliance. The Kraken next to me demanded to be freed, claiming to be a mage. He was swiftly struck in the head by the club and slumped forward.

I applied himself to the oar despite my aching hands and kept my head down. What had happened? Where was I? How had I gotten here? Where was my gear? This is not how adventures go in the tales!
Eventually the Kraken stirred. He no sooner pulled himself upright than he started shouting again for freedom! Another blow to the head quieted him as he slumped unconscious.

The next time he awakened he asked me to help free him! This man was crazy and dangerous. The Kraken was going to get me hurt or killed! I tried to ignore the Kraken, but he kept at it. I didn’t see another way out of this and, damn it I’m not a coward! I glanced around surreptitiously. The guard was walking to the end of the aisle, his back to us. I did what he could to help my neighbor pry one hand free of its manacle.

The Kraken was able to free his other hand and then released me from my bonds as well. The Kraken said he was going to take down the guard and asked if I was with him. I looked for something to use as a weapon and, before I knew it, a stream of water appeared, froze into an icicle and impaled the guard through the head! This guy really was a mage!

I leapt forward and grabbed the downed guard’s cutlass. Two more guards approached. The mage asked me to cover him. Both Guards attacked, but I parried just like in practice and held them off easily.
Another prisoner raced forward and strangled one of the guards with the chain dangling between his manacled wrists. I swiftly dispatched the remaining guard. The smell of disembowelment was awful, but I managed not to vomit or pass out. We were free!

Well, ok we were trapped in the hold with 100 other chained prisoners, the gods only knew where and with however many other guards on the ship. But this room was free of guards. For now.
The prisoners started to free each other. A crab-like creature went over to the ladder and somehow extended its eye up through the door. Gross. The mage started giving orders like he was in charge. The drummer proved to be a wealth of information. He thought our gear was on the other side of the wall behind him and that there were 20 of our captors on the deck above us. I asked the mage if he could break through the wall to our gear and he complied.

The next room was not a hold, but sleeping quarters. Oops. There was only one occupant in the room. The Kraken somehow handled him and began distributing pistols and cutlasses. The crab warned us and hid behind the ladder as another of our captors approached.

The mage asked if anyone had experience with the pistols to shoot the man. I told the group not to use guns since they were too loud and we still had surprise on our side. At my suggestion, we hid the bodies of the other guards among the rowers and resumed our seats, cutlasses at the ready. The man climbed down the ladder and the crab snapped him in half with his claws!

As the rowers and drummer were freed we kept up the drumming and rowing to buy some time. In a few minutes another man started calling down from the deck asking why someone was taking so long bringing up the rum. I looked around for where the rum was with little success, then the drummer pointed me to a storage closet at the back of the room. The closet was divided between huge barrels of rum on one side and gun powder on the other. Luckily they were clearly labeled. I grabbed two bottles of rum and handed them up the ladder, buying a bit more time.

I searched the sleeping quarters and found my bow and quiver. We needed to take out as many of our captors as we could quickly and quietly before they knew wat was happening. I climbed to the deck from the sleeping quarters with the mage right behind me. The mage shot 3 streams of water at the nearest men killing them and I took 1 with the bow.

The mage loosed 3 more streams of water against the captain, navigator and helmsman. The navigator fell and the other 2 looked dazed. The crab-man and the man who had killed the other guard downstairs erupted from the hold and each took on the nearest crewman. I aimed carefully and shot the captain directly in the head. He was hurt but survived.

The mage demanded surrender, but the crew fought on. I aimed again and shot the captain in the head fatally. The crew laid down their arms. The Kraken again tried to take over.

By pirate law, he who kills the captain is the captain. I accepted my new rank on my new ship and named the mage my first officer. The prisoners were freed and offered employment.

Now this is how an adventure is supposed to go! Onward to fortune and adventure!

Xander Seabrook was the Lord of a midsized fishing village. He had a lovely wife, two sons and a daughter. A decade later, the family was blessed with another son. Lady Seabrook and her daughter doted on the new baby and kept him close. Since Lord Seabrook’s time was spent on his duties with the assistance of his older sons he had no objection.

Young Baxter was raised and educated within the manor with all his needs provided for by his mother, sister and servants. He had a great talent with a bow, but no real responsibilities. As he entered adolescence, he grew tired of being babied and longed to see the outside world. He just knew that with his talents he could go forth and make his own name and fortune.

At 15, he decided he was man enough to take on the world. He gathered his bow & quiver, a change of clothes and what coin he could easily lay his hands on and took a small boat as far away as a day’s paddling could take him. He wasn’t sure if it was far enough, but his hands hurt. He had the muscle to keep rowing, but had soft hands which blistered quickly (a malady he had never suffered before). Since he had never been to any of the neighboring towns, he was sure he didn’t have to worry about being recognized and returned home. He was tired and thirsty after the day’s work. At the docks he asked a worker where he might find food and drink. The man and his friends were kind enough to show him to a nearby tavern and he thought it only right to thank them with a drink. Rather than wine, the men ordered whiskey, which he had never tried. The stuff tasted awful, but he wasn’t going to let them think he couldn’t keep up. After one look at Baxter’s coins, the barkeep was happy to keep the drink coming. The world was getting a little hazy, but it was fun and everyone was so nice! Why hadn’t he ventured out before? His head started to dip a bit.

The next thing he knew, he woke up with a splitting headache chained to a huge oar.

WTF was David Smoking last night?????

Having beaten Thrond off (pun intended!!) he wisely chose to flee through his tower to a realm in balance. There he led us a merry chase to his supposed place of power. We kept up with him and even managed to hit him a few times though he kept growing and easily shrugged off our blows. Once ensconced in his own realm he turned to face us. I admit to failing to understand exactly what was happening as our blows were inconsequential to him. Baragund DID manage to at least annoy him when Thrond chose (unwisely) to grapple with the, while still only a juvenile, mighty red drake. Baragund handled him like a chew toy, dropping him from terminal velocity range. The splat sound and slight bounce Thrond made was MOST satisfactory. Unfortunately Thrond healed almost all of his wounds. So Baragund did it again from even higher up this time!

In the meantime a pack of werewolves led by 2 alphas were meant to keep us busy. I connived them into chasing an imaginary stick and Sister Mary J promptly blasted all the lesser weres to ash. After his second bounce, Thrond was forced to consume the 2 alphas to heal. Some god of light appeared at that point and drew Thrond into combat. Thorn put together the fact that Thrond was dependant upon his ruby medalion for protection and he and Schultzy began shooting and destroying it.

A demon lord came and Thrond devoured it, causing himself to grow to epic proportions and destroy the lesser god facing him. We now surmise that we must destroy his items of power in order to successfully vanquish the wanna be Dark Lord.

Tron is stalling

We entered a forest (which we later found to be illusionary, must remember to gadgeteer Greater Mind’s Eye Goggles!). There we were jumped by vampire spawn. We slaughtered them fairly easily save one who flew away. This one was dragged back by Baragund and, to my amazement, re assembled itself using parts of the other vampire spawn! In the end there was a very tough, almost impossible to kill Vampire abomination. Fortunately Sister Mary J communed with her god and her ruler smote through the Vamp’s withered heart with holy wooden fire. The thing turned to ash and the forest vanished.

We made our way up almost to the battlements of Tron’s tower. Oh, some wandering bag of bones crossed our path about 1/2 hour prior to reaching the tower. I can only hope the tower itself falls as easily…… We shall see soon enough….

Where Wolf? THERE wolf!

Today’s event’s are punctuated by our finding the pass leading to Thrond’s citadel in the mountains. He sent a rather dedicated band of were creatures to dissuade us from our pursuit of him. We easily beat off (no pun intended!) the first wave of them, honestly taking things more or less for granted. The last Were was hauled aloft by Baragund to be dropped into a crevase. Unfortunately this creature managed to teleport itself to the remains of its fellows and absorb them into itself creating some kind of proto were. What followed was basically a detente where we beat the werewolf bloody and it regenerated and fought on. I eventually used the hair of Sum Yung Guy and had it detain the were. The hair advised me that a sacrifice such as sacrificing Graile would suffice to kill the were. I immediately discounted such a measure as Graile is his own being, not simply some “item” to be bartered and/or sacrificed! In the end the hair held the were and we proceeded on to confront Thrond in his own element. A thought that, quite frankly, fills me with fear…… Also, the fact that the hair called Graile a “lesser item” really kinda ticks me off……. I mean, this is my friend here, even if he IS a cup…..

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We traveled from the tower for approximately 2 weeks. We visited 2 local villages. We found a cart in which the people had been forced to eat each other and still died (we did bury and consecrate them). We met a very nice woodsman who directed us to a logger town. The logger had GREAT ale (95/100) and another woman cooked great food (92/100). We are now preparing to venture into the deadlands of probable vampirism as we have noticed the local flaura withering in unusual ways. More to come. It is colder than usual for this winter.

The shit has really hit the fan!

So, we freed Bearnabus and were on our way back through the portal realms to the Barony. On the way we were warped to what we believe to be a possible future of our world. A world blasted by devastation and fire. A blighted realm with not a living soul save for an old friend Altair (the vampire slayer) who we had last seen captured by Thrond (the vampire overlord). Apparently something that Thrond did affected the timeline of our realm adversely. Now we have to try and figure out what happened and how to fix things….. In this blighted realm we found Altair had been turned and abandoned for all eternity with no food source. We staked him and are now at the past location of the Barony.

How many times must we rescue people?

Once again we venture into the abyss to rescue one of our own. This time the Psychic Bear Bearnabus. Judged more worthy than the child/spy Bean he was being held by a lord of the flame demesne. Following paths shown to us my the mysterious wizard Dresden who imparted his knowledge to Graile we ventured forth into the paths between worlds. And once again we encountered the strange likeness to Takeishi that we had met before. I feel he is inextricably tied to our cause. As usual he proved his worth in aiding our endeavor. We fought our way through typical minor obstacles set before us by the ruler of this plane. finding ourselves before a large demonic being we proceeded to, as Dresden would say, “lay the smack down on him”. I sapped his vigor, Thorn & Swen shot him, our new companion the Nun Sister Mary J Wana smote him with heavenly force. In short order he fell before us.

Amazingly we found Bearnabus in fine health (98 roll out of 100) and proceeded to exit the area. For our next travel I would truly enjoy traveling to the capital of Bhumanti and presenting oursleves to the, reportedly, lovely and single queen of Bhumanti.

So, in pursuing the demons into their lair in search of their leader, I found myself overwhelmed, and I was rendered unconscious. Next thing I knew, I awoke, standing in front of Altair, of all people! I quickly realized that I was in the middle of a battle. At home in my comfort zone of combat, I saw that a group of men clad only in flames were running at and past me. So, I slipped my blade across the ribs of one of them. They began to generate some manner of psychic assault, but the one that I cut lost his concentration, and blew the minds of the others out. The two that remained were easily dispatched. After exchanging greetings with this same party of adventurers that I seem to continue to run into, they told me that one of their allies was held captive (Do they EVER not have an ally who is captured by demons?) by a demon lord of some strength. So, we walked right through the front gate and were confronted by four giant constructs. They also fell with relative ease, barely challenging us. So, as soon as we had dropped those, the demon himself appeared. Without a word of challenge, he dispatched two smaller minions and began stalking toward us. He also afflicted the Comte with a magical silence, which I found to be rather amusing. So, the small, quiet man named Thorn put an arrow in one of the minions, ending his life, and put another arrow through the head of the other one. Altair charged the monster, raking his sword along the armor on the demon’s side. One of the newer members of the party, a quiet, diminutive woman of prayer, boldly approached the demon, and blasted him with a bolt of magic, followed by the single largest blast of magic that I had ever witnessed, rocking the demon heavily, nearly knocking him from his feet. He didn’t look so good after that. Then the Comte rode forward, launching a pair of small, but deadly darts, which left the demon looking quite weak. I ran in, flipping through the air, and striking his head with both of my blades. I barely touched the ground, pivoting and leaping back and up, whipping both blades into his head once more. This felled the beast. We started discussing where their friend could be found, and I sat on the corpse, only to find out that the corpse wasn’t a corpse! The demon had regenerated itself, rising to fight again. The quiet archer pulled back his bow and buried his arrow in the demon’s eye, once again ending its life. This time we hacked it up, rending it limb from limb. It didn’t come back after that. Now, we move on to scour the tower for treasure and such. After that, on to the next fight!

and I'm pretty sure the others had fun too!

So, did you ever have one of those days where everything goes right? Like the stars align to provide you with everything you not only wanted, but didn’t know you wanted until you had it? Well that’s my NORMAL day. THIS day was something special! My pure awesomeness somehow even rolled over to Swen, Baragund, Thorn and Zuchtengeist. Our barony expanded exponentially. I and Swen made good contacts with traders as well as visiting Nobles from Bhumanti (I made “special” contact with many of the attending Noble’s daughters (and a few wives and some of the younger mothers)) Baragund found a mentor in an Ancient Red Dragon that claims the Northern mountain range as his own (Boy, would Michael be PISSED!!!!) Thorn met a rather bedraggled Field Marshall of Swen’s acquaintance who comes begging favors (unfortunately Swen also got drunk and peed on the shoes of a Bhumanti Duke Wellington, I’m pretty sure the Duke would have had Swen drawn and quartered if he weren’t in our territory!) Oh, and to top it off, a Goddess has taken personal interest in my well being! (I’m fairly certain the Goddess is a sort of Aphrodite/Athena/Dionysius hybrid! She sent a very lovely messenger who I’m pretty sure was into me (though that part about me being dead soon was kind of troubling, I’ll have to look into that *side note, what does prolonged consumption of beverages exclusively from The Holy Graile do to one’s mortality?))

David read The Dresden Files! :)

After defeating Man Bear Pig I attempted to reconcile the Kenish army to accept their situation and surrender and swear allegiance to me. Unfortunately they simply wanted gold and didn’t want to earn it. Swen attempted to shoot the loudest & greediest protester and (he swears it was an accident!) instead shot me in the back of the head!! I doused myself with Graile in order to heal myself and the superstitious Kenish freaked out. At that point I gave up on converting them and we proceeded to terrorize them instead. Baragund burst into dragon form, Swen capped a few of them, Valya did an air burst and the army fled. Our Bhumanti visitors also left hastily advising us to simply mail the taxes from now on….

I fear their may be repercussions from this rather flamboyant display of power.

The next day we embarked through the portal on advice from our bartender sage to rescue Bearnabus. We sought a Sorceress named Margaret Lafey. While we did not find her, we did find another realm occupied by dark people with strange weapons. (I retained 5 of them on crossing the portal back. Rather unusual apparently). We also found her son, who imparted knowledge of “The Ways” into Grailes gem memory bank. We should now be able to begin the search for Bearnabus without marching through the demon held plane of fire.

We paid TOO much taxes?

Our group was enjoying some well earned RnR when our scouts reported an army of 1000 Bhumanti troops coming towards us. I found out we had, indeed, paid our taxes on time and with a little extra thrown in as usual. Shortly thereafter we received reports of a Khenish Army of 2500 approaching our border. This might possibly signal an invasion!

Alas it was nothing so grandiose. The Bhumanti force were simply curious as to why we were paying such large taxes. The lords in charge were conv iced that i was telling the truth and also shocked to learn of the invading Khenish army. We invited them into the walls and arranged a parley with the leader of the Khenish force. It was not invasion but simple GREED that drove the Khenish to us. They had heard of our wealth and wanted to take it from us. This, of course, could not be allowed! In the midst of negotiation I splashed Graile on the leader and he converted to a Were Bear and began attacking us, much to the consternation of the other Khenish leader.

Though the fight was difficult, we were victorious not only in defeating the Man Bear Pig, but also in driving off both the Kennish forces as well as intimidating the Bhumanti into leaving early the next morning. And Swen shot me in the head. It hurt. He apologized.

and meeting a dead friend......

Our Sage/Bartender has given us excellent council on which gate to take to find our missing friends Bean and Bearnabus. We reached the gate easily and passed through seeing, again, many wonders both foul and fair. I was able once again to influence the local geography to aid us in our insertion into this realm. As I grow more familiar with these otherworldly places I feel my control growing greater. Perhaps some day I can claim a realm of my own out here in addition to my holdings on the, I suppose I’ll call it the “Prime” realm.

One being stood out as different. Our old, dead, friend Takeshi! Of course it was only a worn copy of Takeshi, much born down with rage and self loathing, though Graile indicated that there was hope for this poor soul if he would only reach for it.

We easily passed through a small contingent of bat like demons that attempted to stop us and reached 2 enormous demons (the new Takeshi called them Oni, which I assume means demon in his language) Our party fell into its accustomed pattern, I buffed the group and disoriented the stupid creatures with well timed words and Thorn, Swen, Valya, Baragund, Schultz and the new Takeshi took down the demons as a team. It truly is good to have people as skilled as these by my side.

In time we came to a fortress with a MUCH larger Demon atop the parapets. Truly the Demon would have been better served had it stayed upon its perch and harried us. Unfortunately for the dumb brute it displayed the typical weakness of it’s kind. Pride. My insults stung it. Words hurt and they caused the great Demon to leap down upon us where, the new Takeshi and Swen put out both it’s eyes after a nice softening up by thorn and Baragund and Valya. Someday I may actually have to lift my sword in anger, and OH what a dark day that will be! We rescued Bean none the worse for wear but were unable to find Bearnabus. We shall have to look into this and find out what has happened. But that is for a day soon to come.

I made my way into the spirit realm, through a portal that after much searching I finally found in the ruins of an ancient monastery high in the mountains. Upon arriving, I found that many beings travelled here, although I could not touch them. I followed what seemed to be a most interesting challenge to the gate of its origin, and there I observed the flow of creatures into and out of this gate. I had decided that I was going to enter here in search of worthy foes, when I noticed a group of travelers watching me as well. Staring, really. So, we passed through the portal at the same time, and they greeted me by name. Imagine my surprise, as I had never seen a single one of them before. Nevertheless, they seemed to have met some doppelgänger of mine, or at least a lesser portion of my spirit who fought alongside them and died protecting them, apparently. I was…intrigued, to say the least. So, I felt that this group of warriors and sages, nobles and savage beasts would likely lead me to battle, and I decided to travel with them. A loud whistling tone sounded out, and we were soon beset by a swarm of small, annoying creatures that we dispatched easily enough. We were heading for a nearby tower when out of the molten rock leapt two great monsters. Oni. I am sure of it. _Now, _I thought, _this is getting interesting. I enjoined in battle with the both of them, wounding them, and as I battled, a memory occurred to me. I had studied these kind of oni before! As I made several strategic cuts, suddenly the quiet archer, the one who calls himself Thorn, let fly a missile of pure light, right through the eye of one of the oni. I was amazed as it glowed, and then fractured into a thousand pieces of light. Never had I witnessed such prowess in an archer before. We quickly finished the other oni off, and then we were off to the main event: Their lord, the King Oni. He was perched atop his tower, watching us. The de facto leader of the party, and strangely dressed man on a finely trained horse, insulted the demon until it had enough, and it vaulted from its parapet to the ground directly in front of me, spewing fire from its mouth. My chi protected me from the flames, and I knew that this is where my chi had been leading me all this time. I sized up my opponent, and charged forward, slicing and cutting, feinting and stabbing. I thought that he had me once, but I narrowly managed to twist aside from the raking claws of the terrible foe. I felt the __yofun_, or rage, rising inside me. I focused my chi through my blade, and struck as I never had before, tearing through its head and a blinding series of blows. The Oni had much power, as it healed some of the wounds right then…but not all of them. Also, I noticed that my blade seemed to glow, faintly. Some of the others attacked it as well, and the marksman, Swen, put a shot right into its eye. Immediately, I knew how I would slay the beast. It weakly swiped at me, but I batted its hand aside, then leapt for its head once again, channeling my fury into the point of my sword. I pierced its other eye, and drove my blade through the back of its skull! Now my blade released a burst of light, and I distinctly, if faintly, heard a familiar voice: “You can still regain your honor…” I knew that I must determine the source of this call, and although I have long since put to death the samurai within me, I am yet drawn by this prospect. For what glory is there to be had, when one is honorless?

A wandering warrior, far from the samurai he was trained to be. Long since, he has left his code of honor to follow the path of the ruroni, the lone swordsman against the world. His past has left its marks deeply upon him, from the loss of his eye to the loss of his honor, to the fury buried inside him, only exposed by combat, where his chi moves strongly, pushing him ever closer to the brink of madness, to be eternally lost to the rage that threatens to consume him. He seeks a new challenge, a new enemy, as his skill with the blade, Two Heavens As One, has proven more than his opponents could face, and the trail of bodies that he has left in his wake is long… long indeed.Mori Takeshi

I am so sick of these bloodsuckers

A relatively short log entry. We were beset on by a murderer upon returning to town from our Draconic foray. We surmised that the wizard Chen was possibly involved and proceeded to his tower. Upon entering we found that the Tower had become inhabited by a Vampire. we proceeded to destroy the Vampire and, upon doing so, had to release wizard Chen from his vampiric influence. He was upset, but recognized that it was for the best. He ended up becoming a bartender sage while supporting our cause.